Image: Foremost Media.

Former national motocross regular Caleb Ward is targeting a full-time comeback to professional racing following a standout performance at Toowoomba’s sixth round of the 2024 Penrite ProMX Championship.

It was a decade ago that Ward established himself on the scene, securing three MX2 overall victories as a privateer throughout the 2014 MX Nationals – the former Australian Motocross Championship.

A four-round winning streak a year later after missing the opening rounds with injury landed him a factory ride with the KTM Racing Team for the 2016 season, in which he entered the final round a title chance before ultimately falling short to Jed Beaton.

The Queenslander would then eventually sign a deal in the MX2 World Championship for 2017 with a privately-operated Husqvarna program. Injuries amongst other circumstances cut his international career short, returning home halfway through the year.

Ward returned to the domestic championship in 2018 and graduated to the premier class, scoring two podiums throughout his rookie campaign, while an injury-riddled 2019 was the last we saw of him in a full-time capacity, with the pandemic cancelling racing for 2020 and ultimately spelling the end of his career.

The likeable 27-year-old contested the final two rounds of ProMX last year and made a surprise assault at the 2024 New Zealand Motocross Championship, which has prompted him to enter the final three rounds of ProMX in Queensland to strengthen his chances of a full-time return.

“I’d love to come back racing full-time next season, the whole idea started last year,” Ward explained to MotoOnline. “I went in and got my hand fixed up – it was just a niggling injury that I’d had for a while, then I came back for the last two ProMX rounds last year and they went okay. But I spoke to Carl from LMC Husqvarna in New Zealand about going over and racing their championship on a 250.

“I had a heap of fun over there and kind of got the bug back to go racing again. I actually wanted to race the full season here, but by then, rides and stuff are all finalised and budgets are gone. I didn’t have a bike to ride, and financially I wasn’t really in a position to go and buy new bikes and build them up.

“My hope with these last few rounds was to get some good results and hopefully get some support to come back racing full-time next season, that’s the plan anyway!”

Ward was incredibly impressive in challenging and technical conditions in Toowoomba last weekend, especially considering his lack of racing at a national level, where he charged to fourth overall with a 6-4 scorecard.

“It was a pretty fun weekend,” he added. “I was a little bit nervous to start the day, so I probably rode a little tight in qualifying. It’s been a while since I’ve raced a 450 at an Aussie national, and the rest of the dudes have been racing all year.

“I still had some expectations for myself, I started slow but we worked through it and got a bit more comfy each session. I just wanted to get some decent results and have a good round to build on and see where we’re at. I feel like we did pretty well, I was stoked with the overall result, and I thought we did a good job with the preparation that we had.”

MX Farm is due to host the penultimate round of ProMX on 11 August, while the championship will wrap up a week later at Queensland Moto Park on 17-18 August.